Thursday, June 24, 2010

Today was my day to make bread. So I was mixing the bread with my hands. Had the phone tucked under my ear, held between my chin and shoulder. Can you see the picture? I'm talking with my mom on the phone and I'm thinking that this is great. I can talk with her and get the bread mixed all at the same time. All of a sudden, the phone pops out of my chin and lands in the dough. Mom's still talking, but I need to tell her I can't hear her because the phone is in the dough. I grab the phone with my doughy hands and get it up to my ear. Now I have dough in my hair and all over my jacket.... Told her I'd call her back. She said she would call me... back in 10 min. Well what a scene that was. Finally got the phone and myself cleaned up and finished kneading the bread. The bread is now in the oven. The smells coming out of the Pantry are awesome. Can you smell it??

Anyway, I thought I would post the recipe for my basic bread recipe. I usually make 7 loaves and have one dough left to make either a pizza crust, rolls or a round bread that I can doctor up for having with Spaghetti or? I have to hurry, for the bread will be ready to take out of the oven in 5 minutes.

Mix lightly with your hand the liquid and the flour. When it begins to be harder to mix with your hand, then begin to knead the dry ingredients into the center of the ball. Once the ball gets sticky, I add more dry ingredients around it, with a cup of flour. I keep kneading this into the big ball, until it forms the consistency that I like. Usually your hand doesn’t stick to the big ball and it pulls away from the pan.

I then take the ball of dough out and set it on the counter. I scrape the bowl that I was using to knead the dough in, with the lid of a canning jar. I then toss the scrapings. Line the bowl with margarine and set the dough back into it. Let it rise for an hour in a warm room. Any over-rising will cause your bread to be yeasty tasting.

When the dough has grown to a little more than the bowl size. I take it out and place it on the counter. I cut the dough in 8 sections. I have a small little scale and I make my loaves about a pound and a half each. I always have a little loaf left over. I make some roles or a little loaf out if it.

I punch down each loaf to make sure all of the air is out of it. Place them in Margarine greased bread pans and let them rise for an hour. ( Your bread won’t stick to the pans when you use margarine instead of oil!!

When the bread has risen about an inch higher than the pan, I place them in a pre-heated oven of 325’ I bake them for an hour.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Just thought I would share with our a picture of our granddaughter, Dottie. She loves animals!! That is putting it mildly. Her dad finally had to stop her from going around barking at us. She even had the caucked head as she was doing it. Anyway, they went to a friends place and they had dogs and if this dog could talk, I wonder what they would be saying to each other. I just love this picture. I think it's ok for a grandmother to think her grandkids are pretty special....

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

It's been so long since I last posted on my Blog, that I was wandering if I could remember my password. LOL It has been a very rainy Spring and early Summer here this year. Still in need of heating the house, but not wanting to go down and start the wood furnace. So I just put on an extra layer of clothes.

I wanted to share with you a few pictures of our Iris's. Many days that it has been raining and cloudy, these beauties just burst out their color and it's almost like the sun is shining. Last evening the sun finally came out and John got out the camera and took these pictures. With the Sun finally shinning and the beauty of the Yellow Iris's; it was almost too much for my eyes.LOL. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed the view.